Troy University Athletics
Trojans Finish Tied For Fifth At SBC Indoor Meet
2/24/2008 6:00:00 AM | Track & Field
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Troy University women's track & field program reached new heights this weekend, recording their highest finish ever at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships.
The Trojans, who recorded 47 points last season, finished tied for fifth with Florida Atlantic University with 55 points. The two teams finished behind eventual conference champion Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Florida International.
Troy recorded points in several events, including winning two gold medals at the conference championships.
Tawanna Meadows was named the Athlete of the Meet, the first-ever such award for the women's track & field program, by capturing both the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Meadows ran two NCAA provisional times in the 55-meter dash, her second and third of the season respectively, in the preliminaries and in the finals. Her time of 6.82 in the preliminaries set a new Troy University school record, and then she ran a time of 6.85 in the finals to win by a margin of 0.07 seconds. Meadows then took the track for the 200-meter dash and promptly won the gold medal in that event with a time of 23.94 in the finals, narrowly missing out on a NCAA provisional time by just 0.04 seconds.
Meadows recorded a school record in the 200-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 23.96, but then broke that record with her performance in the finals.
She was not the only athlete this weekend to break a school record, as senior Karla Blankenship recorded a new school record in the pole vault. After recording a season-best performance two weeks ago at the Sewanee Tiger Invitational, Blankenship cleared a height of 10'2" to finish eighth and record the new record.
Not only did school records fall, but so did season-bests with performances this weekend at the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships. Along with Meadows (two) and Blankenship; Shelisia Crawford (200-meters), Tatiana Thoams (400-meters), Jocelyn Williams (400-meters), Kelly Harrington (one-mile), Jenean Corcoran (one-mile), Juzil Rudolph (long jump and triple jump), Agata Cichoszewska (long jump and triple jump), Porsche Holden (triple jump), Tiphanie Baker (shot put), the 4x400-meter relay team and the Distance Medley Relay all set new standards for the season.
The Trojans were also one of just two schools to place two athletes in the Top Five in the penathlon (Rudolph and Erin Clymer), joining Western Kentucky.
Many of the Troy athletes will have a chance to join Meadows as a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships or meet a qualifying mark March 7 at the Last Chance Meet, hosted by Louisiana State University. The NCAA Indoor Championships take place March 14 and 15 in Fayettville, hosted by the University of Arkansas.
